UK restaurateurs upbeat

The UK restaurant sector's financial performance is, on average, better than that of the rest of the hospitality industry and restaurateurs are confident about the future, writes a new report released this week.

The UK restaurant sector's financial performance is, on average, better than that of the rest of the hospitality industry, writes a new report released this week.

Industry body, the Restaurant Association, colluded with HSBC, BDO Stoy Hayward, and Foodservice Intelligence to collate both macro and micro information on the restaurant sector. The report, entitled the Restaurant Industry Gold Standard (RIGS), reveals that the average rate of return on capital is 5.4 per cent - but with some high flyers reporting returns of 24.2 per cent.

Despite the challenges, restaurateurs appear to be confident about the future. More than half of those surveyed believed that the next 12 months would be better for the industry and more than two thirds believed it would be better for their own restaurant. Seventy-two per cent said they would recommend working in the restaurant business and 70 per cent said they expected to be working in the restaurant business in 5-10 years time.

Longer term industry forecasts indicate that the licensed restaurant sector will continue to show steady growth in the number of outlets, meals served and the value of food sales. It is anticipated that in 2006, RIGS restaurants will be serving more than 1.8 billion meals worth over £8 billion (Euro12.6m) in food sales.